Meet Lynn
After graduating with a BA in French history and literature from Rollins College in Winte
r Park, FL, I began fulltime (unpaid) performing and working in public relations for the international educational/musical program, Up With People. In UWP as we "uppies" affectionately call it, I traveled to 32 countries over five years, met and married my husband and had our first child who, despite sleeping in a variety of dresser drawers around the world, turned out to be quite normal.
Over the next two decades, I pursued a number of entrepreneurial ventures and developed my passion for non-fiction by becoming a freelance writer. My first articles were a series of humor pieces for a local paper. I went on to write hundreds of articles for magazines including Reader's Digest and Family Circle. Later I specialized in articles for small business owners. For two years I produced a monthly column on home-based business for Business Start Up magazine. At the same time, I became a consultant specializing in marketing and PR for small businesses and produced a number of newsletters.
One of the great experiences of my life was meeting humorist Erma Bombeck and writing her only authorized biography. The book was one in a series on contemporary American women aimed at middle school students. Parts of it are excerpted on the Erma Bombeck online museum.
My first job in a corporate environment was at a hospital in Tucson. I started as a part time writer and ended up as director of public relations before moving out of state.
I worked as a writer for two community colleges, then returned to health care in the community relations department of a large hospital in Spokane, WA. I briefly assumed the position of interim vice president for community relations before leaving to take a job in a privately owned telecommunications manufacturing company.
Here I flourished in what turned out to be my dream job in corporate communications. Led by an incredible manager, our team as well as the company, was on a roll. I was given all the freedom (and money) I needed to create and manage internal communications. I designed and implemented an award-winning corporate intranet, wrote and produced weekly videos, created and launched an 8-page 4-color monthly newsletter and co-led a successful effort to establish trust and communication inside the company.
After being laid off, I started graduate school. I thought I wanted to get a master's in counseling. In addition to taking a full load of classes, I worked as an intern in a community college counseling center. I learned a great deal about how people can be their own worst enemies when it comes to getting what they want; about the various approaches to counseling; about how to listen, avoid judgment and help people to achieve their goals. But in the end, I found myself boxed into a system I could not support. After one year, I left to pursue coaching, where I can put to work all aspects of my life and learnings, in an open, flexible and creative setting.
I've left out a few of my jobs, but this review will give you an idea of my varied experience and successes all of which have led me to where I am today. Like so many coaches, I've lived a lot and want to share what I've learned with others. Now, with so much of life behind me, coaching feels like coming home.